15 Most Common Languages of English Language Learner Students

By 2025, an estimated 25 percent of K-12 public school students will be English language learners (ELLs). This increase in students also means an increase in language diversity — there are over 300 languages spoken in today’s US public schools. Below, data from the US Department of Education shows the most 15 commonly-spoken home languages by ELLs and their families, and how they’ve changed over time.

Home LanguageEnglish language learners, 2008 to 2009English language learners, 2009 to 2010English language learners, 2011 to 2012English language learners, 2012 to 2013English language learners, 2013 to 2014English language learners, Fall 2014
Spanish, including Castilian
3,617,597
3,577,649
3,562,860
3,718,047
3,770,816
3,709,828
Arabic
65,278
71,228
86,162
97,971
109,170
109,165
Chinese
77,240
80,124
96,509
104,799
107,825
104,279
Vietnamese
91,607
93,204
89,536
92,560
89,705
85,289
English, examples of situations in which English might be reported as an English learner’s home language include students who live in multilingual households and students adopted from other countries who speak English at home but also have been raised speaking another language.
86,390
77,872
85,246
90,703
91,669
83,230
Hmong
52,990
49,697
43,845
41,368
39,860
37,412
Somali
26,264
27,771
27,861
30,959
34,472
33,712
Russian
34,085
33,349
32,225
33,678
33,821
32,493
Haitian, including Haitian Creole
37,074
39,736
39,883
38,768
337,371
31,428
Haitian, including Haitian Creole
37,074
39,736
39,883
38,768
337,371
31,428
Tagalog
38,849
37,038
32,766
35,395
32,141
28,547
Korean
43,169
39,739
33,704
34,874
32,445
28,530
Urdu
20,705
21,213
22,219
22,590
22,499
222,294
French
16,525
18,504
18,849
20,018
20,799
20,275
Portugese
18,055
15,229
15,725
17,085
19,142
19,839
Japanese
16,212
14,582
15,011
16,727
16,591
16,403

Note: Includes all students who identified as English language learners —both those participating in ELL programs and those not participating in ELL programs. Data include all ELL students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools nationally at any time during the school year.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, EDFacts file 141, Data Group 678, extracted August 24, 2016, from the EDFacts Data Warehouse (internal U.S. Department of Education source); Common Core of Data (CCD), “State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary and Secondary Education,” 2008-09 through 2014-15.

English language learner (ELL) students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools, by grade, home language, and selected student characteristics: Selected years, 2008-09 through fall 2014